Did Candidate Park ever get married, or have a baby?

There has been a controversy about Professor Hwang of Yonsei University saying that “It is hard to say that Park, a presidential candidate of Senuri Party, carried out a role as a woman because she has not gotten married, given birth to a child, or raised one.”

Professor Hwang was on Channel A, which is a current affairs TV shows, as a guest and stated that “The difference between man and woman in Korea is not the distinction of genital organs but the distinction of role.” He also added that “The representative role of a Korean woman is bearing children and raise them after getting married.” These statements occurred during the explanation of the comment made by Jinae Kim, a former member of a legislative assembly. Kim remarked on twitter that “I feel insulted as a woman” about Park’s female president argument.

Professor Hwang first premised that “You have to consider that this comment is from the opposition party,” and threw a question that “Did the candidate Park get married or give a birth?” He continued to say that “Why on earth does she talk about a ‘woman’ all of a sudden, when she wants to be a president as a queen?” “Women are discriminated after their marriage and during social activity, and that’s the foolish males’ fault,” he stated this to intend that it is not easy to talk about discrimination against women when it comes to women who did not get married.

This kind of announcement of Hwang has become a target of strong criticism by the reason of degradation of women on the online board as well as SNS (Social network service). This is because it can mean that women without pregnancy, labor, and infant care cannot assert their rights. On twitter, a twit by someone against professor Hwang, saying that “According to what Mr. Hwang says, does the fact that women like Mother Teresa, Sunduk queen of Shilla, Joan of Ark of France did not have a child or get married mean that they are only female by their genital organs?” is spreading. Twit user whose ID is ‘ga*****’ mentioned that ““In that sense, every unmarried male is only men by their genital organs and every unmarried female is only women by their genital organs?” criticizing Mr. Hwang’s opinion. Junggyun Jin, a professor of Dongyang University, twitted that, “I managed to understand what Mr. Hwang said about Yunna Kim the other day, but this time, it is insane of him to say that. It is a pity.”

On the other side, there are some public opinions that people have to focus on what Mr. Hwang intended to say. They are claiming that he was pointing out the candidate Park’s unrealistic argument of female president, just in a tough way.” The argument has criticized because Park has not lived a life that embraces the weak including women.

One of the users who has an ID ‘to*************’ mentioned that “The announcement of Mr. Hwang indicates a problem about the difference between ‘gender’ and ‘sex’, and that born with a womb is not necessary condition nor a sufficient condition to learn a social role of maternal instinct. He continued to say that “Park’s lack of communication is very similar to patriarchal politic of Junghee Park, the famous dictator of Korea in 1970s and also candidate Park’s father.   

A writer, Jongsuk Go mentioned on twitter that “The reason why the Senuri is heated is not because Mr. Hwang is too ignorant to put a wrong standard to define femininity, but because he is too ignorant to put a word ‘genital organ’ to Park. I cannot think of a word to substitute, though.”

Although there are opinions that defend Mr. Hwang’s announcement, there is still a criticism that it is just inappropriate itself. Jungran Kim, a professor of Sangji University mentioned on twitter that “I am against Park more than anyone and I am also against Park’s female president argument. However, I do not agree with the low-grade announcement of Mr. Hwang. It is obviously belittlement of women and deserves criticism.”

About this controversy, Mr. Hwang said on the interview with Dong-a Ilbo that “Academically, we distinct sex and gender. I choose the word ‘genital organ’ because the word sex might cause an aversion to people in public.” He also explained that “I wanted to mean that when we discuss a woman living in Korea, it is the role that decides the nature of female, not the genital organ.” Finally, he clarified that he will explain what he intended to say on this Wednesday.

 

Original News : http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/culture_general/558858.html